When, in time, Industry shall have filled with agricultural wealth the valleys of the Rocky mountains, when Art shall have crowned with ornate villages those sweet shadowy haunts, where wanton trapper bands still chant savage love-songs by moonlight with Indian maids amidst the turbulent fandango, and when Religion and Civilization shall have established generally their abode throughout the plains of the West, in vain shall the antiquary look for memorials of the deeds or misdeeds of these barbarous pioneers. Their actions make no durable impression upon the earth. And perchance some mountain creek or solitary ridge, where a trapper has fallen by the treachery of the natives, will transmit to posterity through its name christened after the tragedy, all that is left to perpetuate the memory of this unique class of men.

Sewickley, Pa.

D. E. N.

"Our town was once the rendezvous for the mountain men, and when we first moved here, a motley crowd I assure you were at times assembled in the place. Smaller towns a few miles west of us and more on the frontier have now become their favorite resorts, Nearly all who were once actively engaged in the trade have abandoned the trapper's life and embarked in other pursuits. Those who are left are not as their progenitors were. Old Bill Williams and Pegg'd leg Smith (alias one wooden leg) were known far and near. Williams was inoffensive, an easy good natured man, whose great delight was to deal in the marvellous and entrance the gaping multitudes with narratives of events, that did and did not take place. Smith was the boisterous, troublesome companion, especially when two or three sheets in the wind. It was customary with him to mount his horse, gallop around the square, chase all the boys in his way, and ride into the dram shop, drink off a glass of liquor and then toss the glass at the bar keeper's head. His last achievement in our town was to shoot off the lock from the tavern stable, release his horse held in custody for his bills, and then ride triumphantly off through the streets away to the plains. Poor fellows! they are now gone to their last resting place. Like the moth, they led a dazzling life which carried them away to certain destruction. Williams, who was known familiarly to nearly all the Indian tribes, and loved by all, was at last killed by his once best friends, the Eutaw Indians, near to Santa Fe in 1849. Smith perished a year or so before in the mountains, near the head waters of the Big Platte river. Many of like occupation figured somewhat, but not so conspicuously as did these two men. Such were all

the Sublette family (four brothers), the Bents (three brothers), and Fitzpatrick, now Indian agent for all the wild tribes. This last, Fitzpatrick, has now become an important personage, and one well esteemed by our government."

REVERENCE AND RELIGION.

THE fear of the Lord is two fold. It may exist as a mere dread of his power and vindictive justice. As such it possesses no value, and only serves to degrade the subject of it to the level of the animal, that can also shrink at the approach of danger. But when it is coupled with intelligence and purity of feeling, it assumes an entirely different character. It then becomes reverence, which is said by Solomon to be "the beginning of wisdom," or religion in the soul. It shall be the object of this paper to show its fundamental character in the development of the christian life.

Reverence is one of those noble and exalted feelings, that distinguishes man from the brute creation, and is co-ordinate with reason and the gift of speech. As irrational creatures cannot reason or speak, so they do not possess reverence. God, who is above all, and over all blessed forevermore, is the proper and legitimate object for which this feeling is to be exercised. If he did not exist, or if he were not what he is, there could be no feeling of this kind at all. The world should be without form and void, a dreary waste, with nothing for intelligent beings to admire and adore. The light of the universe should have gone out in midnight darkness, and men and angels, supposing they could exist apart from God, should have been given over to eternal horror, to blackness of darkness forevermore. But the glory of the universe is the Supreme Being, whose presence spreads joy and happiness throughout his dominions, and calls forth the admiration of all, who can contemplate his adorable perfections.

The fear of the Lord implies in the first place reverence for the name, or character of God, wherever it is made known. The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament sheweth his handy work. Day unto day uttereth speech and night unto night sheweth knowledge. In the works of creation, from the twinkling star far away in distant space, to the tender blade of grass beneath our feet, the power, wisdom, and goodness of God are plainly set forth. Evidently these things must have come from his creative hand, and when devoutly and piously contemplated, they lead the mind up to the Creator, the great Architect of all, and fill it with admiration and reverence. the various events of history, that transpire among men, the same wisdom, power, and goodness may be seen as in the natural world, whilst at the same time other attributes of his char

In

acter come more fully into view. Justice and Mercy are clearly seen in his dealings with nations and individuals, for whilst the wicked and the proud are overthrown as in a moment, at other times, they are spared and preserved. At one time, the blasphemer is suddenly cut off in his sins, at another time he is permitted to stand at least for a season. All this enables the serious mind to venerate the Being, who can thus rule over all, and temper his justice with mercy. There is a way of looking at nature and history, that excites no love for God, or regard for his name. Men for instance admire the world, the order and beauty of its parts, without referring them to God as their author, or the mirror of his presence. This is a mere sensual gratification and it can beget no reverence. Carlyle, who with a masterly hand has laid bare the weakness of the French infidels and makes it to consist in their want of reverence, expresses himself in his peculiar style in reference to Diderot, in the following language: "The unhappy man sailed through the universe of Worlds, and found no maker thereof; had descended to the abysses where Being no longer casts its shadow, and felt only the rain-drops trickle down; and seen only the rainbow of Creation, which originated from no sun; and heard only the everlasting storm, which no one governs; and looked upwards for the Divine Eye, and beheld only the black, bottomtess, glaring Death's Eye-Socket; such with all his voyagings was the philosophic fortune he had realized.”

It is, however, only in the revelation which God has made in the person of his Son, our Saviour, that his character comes fully to light. What is only dimly suggested in nature, is here revealed in the broad light of day. Here God is seen, as the Author and Creator of all things, the Judge and Ruler of the universe, and the merciful Father of all his children. His power and wisdom appear in their full extent; his justice infinitely strict and flexible, whilst his mercy is exhibited on a much larg er scale than elsewhere. Here it is something more than mere patience with the sinner's folly, or long-suffering with the evildoer. It extends to him abundant pardon, and with it, eternal life; something that nature could never have taught him. With such an exhibition of God, the intelligent mind, must fall down in admiration and praise, so soon as it catches a glimpse of his presence. That Being who possesses such a character, must become sacred in our eyes; his ways, his laws, his words, we must venerate, and violence done in any way to his name, inflicts upon us pain and sorrow. The saints of old present us with some remarkable exemplifications of such a feeling, when

God was pleased to reveal himself to them in some extraordinary manner. The patriarch Jacob in his dream saw heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending. When he awaked out of his sleep, he exclaimed, Surely the Lord is in this place and I knew it not. It is said that he was afraid,—that is, filled with reverence and awe, and said, How dreadful is this place! this is none other but the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven. The prophet Isaiah in holy vision saw the Lord sitting upon a throne and lifted up, and his train filled the temple, and above it stood the Seraphim, and one cried to another, and said, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts, the whole earth is full of his glory. Then the prophet in the profoundest reverence says, Wo is me, for I am undone, because I am a man of unclean lips; for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts. The Psalmist asks, who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord, and who shall stand in his holy place, as if a sacred awe checked his approach into the presence of God. John in the Revelation, says that he fell at the feet of Christ as a dead man. His reverence for his Lord and master, completely overcame his physical and mortal constitutions.

In the next place the fear of the Lord implies reverence for his Church, which becomes something sacred from its connection with Christ, who is in it, rules over it, and directs it from age to age down to the latest period of time. As a mere collection of good and pious men, the Church can claim the respect and consideration of all. But it possesses a divine, as well as a human side. It is the Kingdom of heaven, which has been set up in the world, and calls for and demands the allegiance of all men. Christ and his Church are one, as the Father and the Son are one. In the day of judgement he will speak to the wicked in this wise: I was a hungered, and ye gave me no meat; I was thirsty and ye gave me no drink; I was a stranger, and ye took me not in. Then the wicked who never believed that Christ was in his church and never saw him there, will say, when saw we Thee an hungered, or a thirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, and in prison, and did not minister unto thee. Christ will reply to them by saying, verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not unto the least of these, ye did it not unto me. In another place, he says, he that receiveth you, receiveth me. In these passages, and others like them, Christ evidently identifies himself with his people, and rightly too, for he and they are one. Reverence paid to the church, is reverence paid to Christ, and not to man. We call no man master, but as Christ is in his church, we look up to her with

filial reverence and regard; we place ourselves under her instruction and care; we look to her for comfort in distress, and instruction to guide our wandering feet aright, and submit ourselves to her wholesome discipline or reproof when we err, and regard it as coming from Christ himself."

A proper regard for the church necessarily begets reverence for everything connected with her. We reverence the ground upon which the outward building stands, and when we enter the sactuary, we feel the presence of Him, who has there recorded his name. It is a beautiful custom handed down from former times, but now disappearing, for persons when they enter the church to pause in their pews, and with uncovered heads to offer up a silent prayer to God. This shows a proper feeling, and contrasts strongly with the irreverence, and irreligious spirit and air, that are so often witnessed in the sanctuary in our days. Ministers, the servants of the sanctuary, and stewards of the mystery of grace, have always been held in high esteem for their work's sake, except where a skeptical and profane spirit has lifted up its head in the community, and regard for religion itself has disappeared. It is, however, more especially in reference to the means of grace, that our reverence for the Church and Christ, is manifested. The Bible becomes to us the Holy Bible, and appears to us as a treasure above all price. It is our daily companion, a lamp to our feet, and a light to our ways. In the hour of affliction, its pages become resplendent with heavenly light, and in prosperity it is the ornament of all our joys. When we open its pages, a sacred awe checks our minds, and we fear to criticise, or doubt its contents. No man can read the scripture to any purpose, who has not learned to regard them with a kind of sacred awe. The sacraments have always excited reverential feelings in the hearts of devout worshippers. Men cannot divest themselves entirely of such feelings when they are administered in their presence, however much they are made to recede in the services of the sanctuary. They may deny that Christ is present on such occasions, and in their opposition to mystery, reduce them to empty ceremonies, still their own feelings, if they be not entirely dead to divine things, are the strongest proof that Christ is there in his power and his glory. The services of the sanctuary impart a sacredness to the day itself on which they are held, and hence we keep the sabbath day holy. Sabbath profanation is a sin, not because a day is disregarded; but because it is a practical disregard for that for which the sab bath is kept. Sabbath breakers, therefore, in this country, where the sabbath is so intimately bound up with our religious services,